Hypodermic needle syringes often are used in a home environment or in other environments away from a medical care facility, such as a work place, or travel environment, by persons for the injection of drugs, such as diabetic patients who must monitor and control their medical condition by insulin therapy, whereby the diabetic receives insulin injections one or more times a day. Typically, the insulin injections are self-administered throughout the course of a day, according to the individual patient's blood sugar or glucose level. Thus it is desirable that the hypodermic needle syringes be conveniently accessible, such as in a home environment or in a purse or luggage.
Disposable, for one-use type hypodermic needles syringes for injecting insulin and other drugs into patients are presently available by prescription from a physician, and typically the syringes are made in a uniform shape and size: The standard disposable syringe employs a plunger which is drawn back from one end of the syringe barrel to fill the syringe through the needle, which is held within a vial of insulin or other liquid drug during a filling operation of the syringe. It is desirable that the hypodermic syringe be sterile and easily accessible and provided to the user in a safe manner, and after injection, the used insulin needle syringes should be safely collected and disposed of without presenting the hazard of inadvertent puncture or scratch of the skin of the user or of others.
Presently, none of the known prior art discloses a practical, safe and inexpensive dispenser and collector designed specifically for home use and portable out of home use dispensing and disposing of hypodermic syringes, such as insulin syringes used by diabetic patients. Thus, diabetics and other persons requiring injections away from a medical facility usually carry the insulin needle syringes in a pre-packaged supply, such as from a bag purchased from a local pharmacy. After use, the used insulin syringes typically are discarded in a generic collector, such as a cardboard box or plastic milk jug, or are discarded directly into a household garbage can or public refuse collector which usually is delivered to a local refuse collection facility. During the containment of the needle syringes, there is a hazard that others including family members, or workers who are handling the garbage of diabetics, and the like might become contaminated by skin scratch or puncture by the needle of the hypodermic syringe.
For example, an unused, prepackaged hypodermic syringe supply can drop or fall from a medicine cabinet or a counter within the household and the syringes can become contaminated when they are exposed to the external environment. Also, if the used syringes are deposited in a generic household collector, such as a cardboard box or milk jug and thrown into the household garbage bag, when the garbage is filled with household trash, the needle of a syringe can protrude through its generic collector and other garbage to scratch or puncture a family member who is transporting the garbage from a room in the household or scratch or puncture a worker who is collecting the trash from a residence, etc. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a disposable, puncture-resistant, leak-resistant container designed, sized and shaped for safely dispensing new, sterile unused hypodermic syringes one at a time, and after the syringes have been used for collecting the used syringes in the same container, so that the syringes can be carried in and used in a personal environment, such as a home, work place, or travel environment.